Our Favorite New Treat: Cake on a Stick!

As if lollipops and cake weren't awesome enough on their own, some brilliant culinary mind thought to combine them -- and now cake pops are, well, popping up all over the place, even at Starbucks.So what's behind the trend?We asked...

As if lollipops and cake weren't awesome enough on their own, some brilliant culinary mind thought to combine them -- and now cake pops are, well, popping up all over the place, even at Starbucks.

So what's behind the trend?

We asked SELF's resident cake pop enthusiast (she doubles as our digital director, as cake pop duties only take up so much time!), Kristen Schultz Dollard, for her take on cake.

“It’s all about the novelty factor!” Dollard says. “And food is much more fun when it’s on a stick, right?”

“I will warn anyone who takes this on, it is unexpectedly labor-intensive and detailed,” Dollard says. “But they are so charming, you have to try to make them and eat them, too! And as a mom, I must say they are so much smaller than cupcakes that the lower sugar content results in a much saner kid.”

At Starbucks, the folks behind the scenes also admit they struggled to perfect the tricky process — specifically, “stabilizing the cake” to make sure it doesn’t slide off the stick.

The result is a line of adorable, under-200 calorie treats. In fact, they’re some of the lowest-calorie snacks on the Starbucks menu.

Our verdict: Adventurous bakers, try a recipe at home on a free afternoon. The rest of us will enjoy the relatively low-guilt fruits of Starbucks’ labor.